It sounds like hype from a slick public-relations flack or an amped-up carnival barker. But it's a legitimate question:

Could the Nov. 9 Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 be the wildest — maybe the best — race in Phoenix International Raceway's 50-year history?

"When it gets down to 10 laps to go, you know all hell is going to break loose," says 1989 Cup champion Rusty Wallace, an ESPN analyst who retired after the 2005 season.

That's possible because NASCAR's new Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship format is somewhat similar to the NCAA basketball tournaments. PIR will host NASCAR's version of the Elite Eight, and the race's outcome will decide the Final Four.

"It's going to start in practice," Grubb predicted. "You're going to see mind games played. You're going to see drivers rough up the guys they are racing against. It's going to be all out if that (result) is going to be the deciding factor if you have a shot (at the championship) or not."

PIR remains the semifinal in the 10-race Chase but also becomes an elimination round: 16 drivers will qualify for the Chase, but four will be eliminated after three races, and four more after six races. The remaining eight with a recent Chase race victory or the most points will still be in title contention. When the checkered flag waves, the final four — also determined by recent Chase race wins or points — will vie for the championship the following Sunday, in Homestead, Fla.

The highest finisher at Homestead among that quartet will claim the Cup.

"Especially if you have drivers trying to move forward in the Chase that are near one another (on the track) and a win is vital for them to transfer ... it can be exciting, especially on a track like Phoenix," he said.

PIR President Bryan Sperber, who said ticket sales are ahead of last year's pace for an event that essentially has sold out all grandstand seats in recent seasons, is among those who think the November 2012 race ranks as the track's wildest. Gordon intentionally wrecked Bowyer, triggering a garage-area brawl involving Gordon and both pit crews.

"(That) set the bar pretty high," said Sperber, PIR's president since 2002. "But think about what's on the line here in November: Eight drivers will come into our race with a chance for the championship. Four will have their dreams crushed. That's a lot of pressure. And that's against the backdrop of the drivers that have been eliminated. This is their next-to-last chance to make a statement.

"You put all of that together, I think you're going to have tempers flaring. The pressure might be higher than any other race, because, this is it. I think it's going to be no holds barred.

"In those closing laps, if driver Number 4 (in Chase standings) is leading driver Number 5, and there's an opportunity for the chrome horn (bumper-to-bumper contact), you've got to think that's going to cross the minds of some of those drivers."

But desperate moves might not be limited to the drivers.

Grubb said decisions made in the pits by Cup-contending crew chiefs needing to gain track position could be equally aggressive — and decisive.

"If there's a caution midrace that puts you in your fuel window (a chance to finish without another pit stop), you can guarantee somebody will be playing that card," he said. "If there's a tire window, somebody's going to be playing that card. If there's a chance for a restart and wrecking somebody, people will probably be doing that, too.

"But you have to be in a position to take a shot at it if there are a couple of green-white-checker (overtime) restarts. If you're not in the top five, you can't reach the leader to make that dive-bomb."

Sperber believes non-NASCAR fans will embrace the similarities to the NCAA Tournament.

"Our television commercials are going to be featuring this giant bracket and that will be at the track so fans can get their pictures taken next to it," Sperber said. "You'll start to see the office pools developing. Just as the NCAA has had a lot of success with March Madness, I can see the bracket around the Chase having a lot of the same characteristics.

"My experience has been when there's a change like this, as we get closer to the race, people's attention turns to: 'OK, what is this change? What does this really mean?' I can see the excitement continue to increase all the way to the finish.